Forever
by The Dark Shark
Summary: [OneShot] Suze received the best graduation gift she could ever asked for. A JS fluff.


_**I disclaimed the characters below to Meg Cabot**_

Suze received the best graduation gift she could ever have.

My entry in the KJDS2 at MCBC. Obviously a J/S thing. Very, very fluffy.

I dedicate this story to my sister Sarah, whose idea inspired me.

Read and review, please?

* * *

"Congratulations, class, we did it!" said Kelly in her perfect Legally Blonde imitation. 

But no one cared. We were too busy whooping and throwing our hats and running around hugging everyone. Not easy, considering we had on our graduation gowns, but we managed.

I graduated! I'm released from the black hole that is high school and free to venture onto the world as an adult. A daunting prospect, but right now, I can't think about college and work and all that. Right now, I just want to enjoy this moment.

"Suze, are you coming?"

I turned and saw Cee Cee walking towards me, strangely, without Adam in tow. Those two have been inseparable since the Winter Formal we had last year. Not that I'm complaining, since I knew how much they're into each other. Well, I knew that Cee Cee was into Adam ever since we first met, but Adam took his time showing his true feelings. Guys.

"Yeah, but I'm coming later. I'm going back to change first," I said, walking alongside her. There's gonna be a graduation party later at Kelly's house and she invited all of us. Seriously, she did. Even those she presumed to be freaks.

I'd like to think that Kelly had grown up and left all the petty insults behind. And apparently she did, and we have one person to be thankful for. The one and only Paul Slater. I don't know what he did before he moved back to Seattle for his final year, but Kelly changed after that. Not a whole lot that she was unrecognisable though. Just enough to make us believe that she has become quite a civilised human being.

"Well, I brought my clothes so I'm going straight there with Adam. I'll see you later then. Can you believe we've graduated?" Cee Cee asked excitedly.

I smiled. "Ask me again tomorrow. By then I probably would have convinced myself that this is for real."

She laughed, and walked away to Adam who was waiting at his car, waving at me as she went.

0 - 0 - 0 -

It was already late evening when I reached home. I had decided to change into a simple black dress and put on some make-up before heading for the graduation party.

Thank God my mom and Andy were out to dinner. Mom was positively fawning over me and saying embarrassing things like 'my Susie is all grown up, I'm so proud of you' in front of people. She even made me promise to go on a Sunday brunch that weekend to celebrate, since I'm going to this party and I couldn't come to dinner with them today. But hey, as long as Andy's cooking, I don't mind.

I was locking the front door when I heard a car pulling up the driveway behind mine. I turned as the driver opened the car door and got out. My jaw dropped.

"Jesse?"

Good God, he looked gorgeous. He was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans, and he was smiling. I swear, he can wear anything and still be gorgeous just because of that smile. Of course, his thick dark hair was perfect and his tanned skin was perfect which might be because _he_ was perfect.

But don't listen to me. I tend to be biased on anything concerning Jesse.

"I thought you're working today," I managed to say, still recovering from the surprise of seeing him there.

"I am. But I managed to get a short break. I wouldn't pass the opportunity to congratulate you on graduating, Susannah." He stopped just a few feet in front of me, and it took all my willpower not to fling myself to him. I mean, a girl's gotta have some dignity. Besides, we just had a date yesterday. I thought I wouldn't be seeing him until tomorrow.

Wait a second.

"You got a short break? Is that okay? I don't want to get you in trouble with your job. Not that I'm not happy that you're here, because I am, but I'd hate for you to get fired since you need the money from your job to pay for your college fees and for your apartment and everything else, so maybe you shouldn't take so many short breaks, just in case they keep a check on them, but if you cleared with the manager then I guess it's okay…" I trailed off, since Jesse was laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked him.

"_Querida_, you need to learn to speak slower. We mortals cannot keep up." Jesse grinned at me. I felt myself go red, but putting on a fake superior tone, I said, "I'd like to think my ability to speak fast as a gift."

"Just like your ability to see ghosts?" Jesse suddenly said, looking quite serious.

I hesitated. A few years ago, I would have said that being a mediator was a curse. Of course, that was before I met Jesse. Before I knew that my life would never be the same again. But I've never admitted to him that I had stopped viewing my mediator abilities as a curse. Until today.

"Yes. Just like my ability to see ghosts," I replied, looking back at him. We stood there, staring at each other, not saying anything, and I got the feelings I always get whenever we look at each other. The feeling that there's so many things I wanted to say to him, and yet also the feeling that in the silence, nothing had to be said. Because he already knew.

Jesse slowly smiled and took my hands in his. "I have something for you. A graduation gift. Wait here." Then he let go of my hands and walked back to his car before I could say a word.

He opened the back door and took out a bouquet of flowers, and walked back to me. It was a bouquet of a dozen white roses. My favourite.

I felt my jaw dropped for the second time that day. That must have cost him a lot! And when he needed all his money too.

"For you, _mi querida_." Jesse bowed a little and handed me the basket with the flowers in it.

I felt like crying as I took it from him. What have I done to get a guy this wonderful?

"They're beautiful." I breathed in, and the sweet fragrance from the roses was overwhelming. I looked up at him, smiling in a kind of guilty way. "Thank you. But Jesse, you didn't have to do this. This must be so expensive. You need all your money for you. Not to buy things for me."

Jesse took my left hand, the one that wasn't holding the basket, and held them between his hands. "Susannah, you accepted me when I could give you nothing. And now I can, and I want to. Nothing is too expensive for you. I'm not too good with words, but I know that the moment I stopped loving you is the moment all the flowers that you're holding wither and die."

I gazed at him, unable to speak, when his words sank in. Flowers…die? I looked down at the roses, and felt my heart thumping. Roses live a few weeks before they die. Was that how long his love for me would last? Was that his subtle way of telling me that he wanted to break up? I felt like crying again, this time for completely different reasons, when I saw something weird.

There was a white plastic rose among the other live roses.

I glanced sharply back at Jesse, who was watching me. My mouth opened to say something, but I didn't know what. All I could think about was that there's a plastic rose in my basket of live roses.

"Plastic roses don't wither and die," I whispered, finally beginning to understand his meaning.

Jesse took the basket that was in my right hand and set it down to the ground. Then he took both my hands in his again, and gazed into my eyes. His dark brown eyes that always made me feel like I'm the only person left in this world, because everything else just disappears.

"No they don't. They blossom beautifully with the rest of the roses, and they will continue to blossom when the rest die. They last forever. Just like my love for you." Jesse lifted one of my hands and softly kissed it without taking his eyes off mine.

I wanted to smile, but there was a huge lump in my throat. Instead, I took a step forward and hugged him tightly. He wrapped his arms around me and held me there for a few moments. Then I pulled back, stared into his dark eyes, and whispered, "I guess they were right. That good things come to people who wait. I only had to wait sixteen years before I found you."

Jesse smiled, pushing my bangs away from my eyes. "And I only had to wait for a hundred and seventy years." I laughed a little, but he held my face and lifted my chin so that I was looking at him again. And I saw the intensity of his eyes, filled with feelings I could barely begin to comprehend. "But it was worth every second of waiting."

Then he leaned down and kissed me. It was soft, tender and unbelievably sweet. I placed my arms around his neck, and he held my waist, pulling me closer. I felt as if the kiss had touched all the nerves in my body and rendered them useless. All I could feel were Jesse's warm lips on mine and his fingers caressing my back, leaving hot trails wherever they touched.

I was melting, and flying, and drowning, and barely breathing, but it didn't matter because it felt so right. Any other time, it might have turned into a full-on make-out session, but standing outside my house, the sun slowly setting for the day and knowing that Jesse would have to leave for work soon, the kiss meant everything. It wasn't full of passion, or hunger, or demand, or anything that might have been.

It was just full of love, pure and simple.

Jesse was right. A few years of waiting is nothing compared to knowing that you have finally found something that would last forever.


End file.
